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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released in the United States, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) is a 2001 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. The film, which is the first instalment in the Harry Potter film series, was written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman. The story follows Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts as he discovers that he is a famous wizard and begins his magical education. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. It is followed by seven sequels with the first being Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Warner Bros. bought the film rights to the book in 1999 for a reported £1 million. Production began in the United Kingdom in 2000, with Columbus being chosen to create the film from a short list of directors that included Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner. J. K. Rowling insisted that the entire cast be British or Irish, in keeping with the cultural integrity of the book. The film was shot at Leavesden Film Studios and historic buildings around the U.K. The film was released in the U.K. and U.S. in November 2001. It received positive critical reception, made more than $974 million at the worldwide box office, and was nominated for many awards, including the Academy Awards for Best Original Score, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. As of November 2013, it is the nineteenth highest-grossing film of all time and the second highest-grossing film in the series behind the final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Plot Harry Potter is a seemingly ordinary boy, living with his hostile relatives, the Dursleys in Surrey. On his eleventh birthday, Harry learns from a mysterious stranger, Rubeus Hagrid, that he is actually a wizard, famous in the Wizarding World for surviving an attack by the evil Lord Voldemort when Harry was only a baby. Voldemort killed Harry's parents, but his attack on Harry rebounded, leaving only a lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead and rendering Voldemort powerless. Hagrid reveals to Harry that he has been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After buying his school supplies from the hidden London street, Diagon Alley, Harry boards the train to Hogwarts via the concealed Platform 9¾ in King's Cross Station. On the train, Harry meets Ron Weasley, a boy from a large, but poor, pure-blood wizarding family, and Hermione Granger, a witch born to non-magical parents. Once they arrive at the school, Harry and all of the other first-year students are sorted into four different houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. As Slytherin is noted for being the house of darker wizards and witches, Harry successfully begs the magical Sorting Hat not to put him in Slytherin. He winds up in Gryffindor, along with Ron and Hermione. Ron's older brothers have all gone to Gryffindor too: mischievous twins Fred and George, Percy, the prefect, Charlie (who researches dragons in Romania) and Bill (who works for Gringotts Bank). At Hogwarts, Harry begins learning wizardry and also discovers more about his past and his parents. He gets recruited for Gryffindor's Quidditch (a sport in the wizarding world where people fly on broomsticks) team as a Seeker, as his father was before him. One night, he, Ron and Hermione find a giant three-headed dog on a restricted floor at the school. The dog is guarding the Philosopher's Stone, an item that can be used to grant its owner immortality. Harry concludes that his potions teacher, the unfriendly Severus Snape, is trying to obtain the stone in order to return Voldemort, who Harry encounters in the Forbidden Forest where he, Ron, Hermione and Draco Malfoy are serving detention by helping Hagrid look for an injured unicorn after being caught wandering around at night, to a human form. After hearing from Hagrid that the dog will fall asleep if played music, Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to find the stone before Snape does. They face a series of tasks that are helping protect the stone, which include surviving a deadly plant, flying past hundreds of flying keys and winning a violent, life-sized chess game. After getting past the tasks, Harry finds out that it was not Snape who wanted the stone, but rather Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Quirrell. Quirrell removes his turban and reveals Voldemort to be living on the back of his head. Voldemort tries to convince Harry to give him the stone (which Harry suddenly finds in his pocket as the result of an enchantment by the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore), by promising to bring his parents back from the dead, but Harry refuses. Quirrell tries to kill him but Harry's touch prevents Quirrell from hurting Harry and causes his hand to turn to dust. Quirrell then tries to take the stone but Harry grabs his face, causing Quirrell to turn into dust and die. When Harry gets up, Voldemort's spirit forms and passes through Harry, knocking him unconscious, before fleeing. Harry wakes up in the school's hospital wing, with Professor Dumbledore at his side. Dumbledore explains that the stone has been destroyed, and that, despite Ron nearly being killed in the chess match, both Hermione and Ron are fine. The reason Quirrell burned at Harry's touch was because when Harry's mother died to save him, her death gave Harry a magical, love-based protection against Voldemort. Harry, Ron and Hermione are rewarded house points for their heroic performances, and Neville Longbottom is rewarded for bravely standing up to them, winning Gryffindor the House Cup. Before Harry and the rest of the students leave for the summer, Harry realizes that while every other student is going home, Hogwarts is truly his home. Cast *Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter *Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley *Emma Watson as Hermione Granger *John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick *Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid *Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick *Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley *Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore *Ian Hart as Professor Quirrell *John Hurt as Mr. Ollivander *Alan Rickman as Severus Snape *Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley *Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall *Julie Walters as Molly Weasley External links * Category:Films Category:2001 release Category:Harry Potter series Category:Daniel Radcliffe films Category:Emma Watson films Category:Maggie Smith films Category:Alan Rickman films